My first homegrown strawberry - disappointed

I’m actually pretty disappointed. The variety I got was mara des bois after hearing so much hype about it. I got it as bareroot this spring. I picked the first one today and it was tasteless. Taste of nothingness. All the store bought ones I’ve ever had were better. Now I want to rip this plant out. Am I doing something wrong?

In my experience, MdB needs a long time to fully ripen. It needs to go from bright red to darker red before it ripens. Some people pick them when it is bright red. Could that be what you did?

Also, any strawberries tasted diluted if they get too much water (from watering or frequent rain, or both).

Fully ripened MdB does taste good with very nice aroma. It is an ever bearing variety which ripens from June to Oct for me but only a bit at a time (I only had one bed of MdB). I prefer aJune bearers as I could get a lot of strawberries in two weeks. I removed my MdB and replace it with June bearers?

5 Likes

It had just turned fully red. Yesterday a quarter of it was remaining to become red. Today that part filled in when I woke up and I picked it. Does it need more than that? I have trouble imagining that 1 more day is what gives it its entire flavor. The inside was pretty whitish though.

It had rained a lot the past two weeks.

A strawberry planted in spring need a year to get the roots developed to produce goo berries

1 Like

I am not talking about one day. I waited several days before my MdB turned from bright red to dark red.

It is also true that the first year’s fruit may not reach it maximum potential but I think you need to let them ripen longer. Don’t be fooled by its redness.

4 Likes

the 1st ones i tried were bland then once i learned to let them get that dark red, they were very good. my best ones were in july and august which are the drier months here. make sure you spray a fungicide. m.d.b are leaf spot magnets!

3 Likes

Really? We grow these and really like them. Very sweet and flavorful. @mamuang and @steveb4 gave you some good advise.

Give it a chance. Even a fully ripe berry may be tasteless early in the season.

2 Likes

MdB are awesome - hold off until the plants have at least a full season under their belts.

1 Like

I grew Mara Des Bois last year. I would say it tasted as the best store bought strawberry I have had. I am talking the really sweet ones. I ended up taking them out though because I did not get much of a harvest from them and they did not do well where I had them located. I think I had something like 25 at the start of summer around the start of May and by end of summer around August I had something like 10. It seemed like the opposite of what typically happens to most people happened.

I have strawberries that have 6 hours of direct sunlight a day and those who got only shade.
they both look ripe, the ones with direct sun taste good, the ones in shade have no taste.
hydroponic strawberries gets plenty of water but they taste good as long as they get adequate sunlight. So my guess is yours didn’t get enough sunshine. Also wait as long as you can before picking so they have enough time to accumulate sugar. Good luck!

1 Like

The other thing to note is if you planted them this spring, you should have picked off the flower buds for the first 6 weeks or so to let the plants establish. Your plants might not have enough leaves to properly ripen the berries.

4 Likes

I created a full bed of MDB last spring. I plucked off flowers until late July to establish the plants. Once the plants had plenty of green growth I let them flower begin to flower in august. My plants produced a decent crop in September. The crop was attacked by slugs at night and wasps during the day. Thankfully the generous size of the crop I slowly discovered berries to try. I can fully agree the the first ones I picked were just okay. Then as I began to discover hidden ones that ripened longer. I began to notice with those darker berries a wonderful fragrance and outstanding flavor. I only got to sample a few. This spring my bed is producing flowers like gang busters. I’m going to have a bumper crop next month and boy am I excited. So my advice would be patience grasshopper. Let’s your plants grow their roots and leaves to become strong. Perhaps late summer you can try more berries but the goal should be next years bounty.

3 Likes

I second @jcguarneri on not letting your plant flower to start. Every thread I’ve read on strawberries gives this advice. I also have mdb and am excited for next year’s crop.

1 Like

Agree with most comments, takes several years to judge a strawberry.
I know of only one variety that can bear great berries first year and all summer, but actually I don’t know it’s name since my wife bought it. One thing to remember is that to actually feed a strawberry each year you need to fertilize with a balanced fertilizer in the fall once they are dormant. If done on the spring or summer, you will get mostly vine, not so much fruit. Another point worth knowing is that sandy loam is much better than most other soil types. If there is not enough sand in your soil screen, the incorporating some river sand can help give you the soil texture that strawberries crave. Also once your plants reach 3-4 years old they will go on strike, so don’t kill all your runners the second and third year, you’re gonna need them when you jerk the old guys out of service. Been doing this about 20 years, process works well, but soil texture is most important thing. Got all my tips from my Russian father in law many years ago.
Dennis

4 Likes

mine grow just fine in my heavy clay soil but are prone to overwatering and ive had a few plants that have died where water had pooled. MDB isnt a very heavy producer and the berries are med. to small but are a a specialty strawberry more for taste than production.

The day-neutrals will all give you good fruit the first year, but they need to have the flower buds pulled until they get well established.

2 Likes